DESCRIPTION

POE::Component::Syndicator is a base class for POE components which need to handle a persistent resource (e.g. a connection to an IRC server) for one or more sessions in an extendable way.

This module (as well as Object::Pluggable, which this module inherits from) was born out of POE::Component::IRC, the guts of which quickly spread to other POE components. Now they can all inherit from this module instead.

The component provides an event queue, which can be managed with the methods documented below. It handles delivery of events to the object itself, all interested plugins, and all interested sessions.

Component lifetime

You start by calling _syndicator_init, which will create a POE session with your object as its heap, and a few event handlers installed. The events described in "Local events" delimit the start and end of the session's lifetime. In between those, interested plugins and sessions will receive various events, usually starting with syndicator_registered. In this phase, your subclass and plugins can call the methods and send the events documented below. When the component has been shut down, sessions (but not plugins) will receive a syndicator_shutdown event. After this, the component will become unusable.

A note on events

In this document, an event (unless explicitly referred to as a POE event) is defined as a message originating from POE::Component::Syndicator, delivered to plugins (and the subclass) via plugin methods and to registered sessions as POE events.

Interested sessions are considered consumers only, so they always receive copies of event arguments, whereas interested plugins and subclasses receive scalar references to them. This allows them to alter, add, or remove event arguments before sessions (or even other plugins) receive them. For more information about plugins, see Object::Pluggable's documentation. A subclass does not have to register for plugin events.

Two event types are supported: SERVER and USER, though their names can be overriden (see _syndicator_init).

SERVER events

These represent data received from the network or some other outside resource (usually a server, hence the default name).

SERVER events are generated by the send_event* methods. These events are delivered to the subclass and plugins (method S_foo) and interested sessions (event syndicator_foo).

USER events

These represent commands about to be sent to a server or some other resource.

USER events are generated by send_user_event. In addition, all POE events sent to this component's session (e.g. with yield) which do not have a handler will generate corresponding USER events. USER events are considered more private, so they are only delivered to the subclass and plugins, not to sessions.

PRIVATE METHODS

The following methods should only be called by a subclass.

_syndicator_init

You should call this in your constructor. It initializes Object::Pluggable, creates the Syndicator's POE session, and calls the syndicator_started POE events. It takes the following arguments:

'prefix', a prefix for all your event names, when sent to interested sessions. If you don't supply this, Object::Pluggable's default ('pluggable') will be used.

'reg_prefix', the prefix for the register()/unregister() plugin methods If you don't supply this, Object::Pluggable's default ('plugin_') will be used.

'debug', a boolean, if true, will cause a warning to be printed every time a plugin event handler raises an exception.

'types', a 2-element arrayref of the types of events that your component will support, or a 4-element (2 pairs) arrayref where the event types are keys and their abbrevations (used as plugin event method prefixes) are values (see "A note on events" and Object::Pluggable for more information). The two event types are fundamentally different, so make sure you supply them in the right order. If you don't provide this argument, [ SERVER => 'S', USER => 'U' ] will be used.

'register_signal', the name of the register signal (see "SIGNALS"). Defaults to 'SYNDICATOR_REGISTER'.

'shutdown_signal', the name of the shutdown signal (see "SIGNALS"). Defaults to 'SYNDICATOR_SHUTDOWN'.

'object_states' an arrayref of additional object states to add to the POE session. Same as the 'object_states' argument to POE::Session's create method. You'll want to add a handler for at least the syndicator_started event.

If you call _syndicator_init from inside another POE session, the component will automatically register that session as wanting all events. That session will first receive a syndicator_registered event.

_syndicator_destroy

Call this method when you want Syndicator to clean up (delete all plugins, etc) and make sure it won't keep the POE session alive after all remaining events have been processed. A syndicator_shutdown event (or similar, depending on the prefix you chose) will be generated. Any argument passed to _syndicator_destroy will be passed along with that event.

Note: this method will clear all alarms for the POE session.

PUBLIC METHODS

session_id

Returns the component's POE session id.

session_alias

Returns the component's POE session alias.

yield

This method provides an alternative, object-based means of posting events to the component. First argument is the event to post, following arguments are sent as arguments to the resultant post.

call

This method provides an alternative, object-based means of calling events to the component. First argument is the event to call, following arguments are sent as arguments to the resultant call.

send_event

Adds a new SERVER event onto the end of the queue. The event will be processed after other pending events, if any. First argument is an event name, the rest are the event arguments.

send_event_next

Adds a new SERVER event to the start of the queue. The event will be the next one to be processed. First argument is an event name, the rest are the event arguments.

send_event_now

Sends a new SERVER event immediately. Execution of the current POE event will be suspended (i.e. this call will block) until the new event has been processed by the component class and all plugins. First argument is an event name, the rest are the event arguments.

send_user_event

Sends a new USER event immediately. You should call this before every command you send to your remote server/resource. Only the subclass and plugins will see this event. Takes two arguments, an event name and an arrayref of arguments. Returns one of the EAT constants listed in Object::Pluggable::Constants. After this method returns, the arrayref's contents may have been modified by the subclass or plugins.

$component->send_user_event('PRIVMSG', '#mychan', 'message');

delay

This method provides a way of posting delayed events to the component. The first argument is an arrayref consisting of the delayed command to post and any command arguments. The second argument is the time in seconds that one wishes to delay the command being posted.

delay_remove

This method removes a previously scheduled delayed event from the component. Takes one argument, the alarm_id that was returned by a delay method call. Returns an arrayref of arguments to the event that was originally requested to be delayed.

my $arrayref = $component->delay_remove($alarm_id);

EVENTS

Local events

The component will send the following POE events to its session.

syndicator_started

Called after the session has been started (like _start in POE::Kernel. This is where you should do your POE-related setup work such as adding new event handlers to the session.

syndicator_stopped

Called right before the session is about to die (like _stop in POE::Kernel).

Input events

Other POE sessions can send the following POE events to the Syndicator's session.

Registering with multiple component sessions can be tricky, especially if one wants to marry up sessions/objects, etc. Check the SIGNALS section for an alternative method of registering with multiple components.

unregister

Takes any amount of arguments: a list of event names which you don't want to receive. If you've previously done a register for a particular event which you no longer care about, this event will tell the component to stop sending them to you. (If you haven't, it just ignores you. No big deal.) Calling it with no event names is equivalent to calling it with 'all' as an argument.

If you have registered for the special event 'all', attempting to unregister individual events will not work. This is a 'feature'.

shutdown

By default, POE::Component::Syndicator sessions never go away. You can send its session a shutdown event manually to make it delete itself. Terminating multiple Syndicators can be tricky. Check the "SIGNALS" section for a method of doing that.

_default

Any POE events sent to the Syndicator's session which do not have a handler will go to the Syndicator's _default handler, will generate "USER events" of the same name. If you install your own _default handler, make sure you do the same thing before you handle an event:

Note that the handler for the _default event must be named something other than '_default', because that name is reserved for the plugin-type default handler (see the Object::Pluggable docs).

Output events

The Syndicator will send the following events at various times. The 'syndicator_' prefix in these event names can be customized with a 'prefix' argument to "_syndicator_init" in _syndicator_init.

syndicator_registered

Sent once to the requesting session on registration (see register). ARG0 is a reference to the component's object.

syndicator_shutdown

Sent to all interested sessions when the component has been shut down. See _syndicator_destroy.

syndicator_delay_set

Sent to the subclass, plugins, and all interested sessions on a successful addition of a delayed event using the delay method. ARG0 will be the alarm_id which can be used later with delay_remove. Subsequent parameters are the arguments that were passed to delay.

syndicator_delay_removed

Sent to the subclass, plugins, and all interested sessions when a delayed event is successfully removed. ARG0 will be the alarm_id that was removed. Subsequent parameters are the arguments that were passed to delay.

All other events

All other events sent by the Syndicator are USER events (generated with send_user_event) and SERVER events (generated with send_event*) which will be delivered normally. Your subclass and plugins are responsible for generating them.

SIGNALS

The component will handle a number of custom signals that you may send using POE::Kernel's signal method. They allow any session to communicate with every instance of the component in certain ways without having references to their objects or knowing about their sessions. The names of these signals can be customized with _syndicator_init.